WEN-CON

WEN-CON is Wenatchee’s pop-culture convention, with guest stars, vendors, artists, games, panel discussions, prizes, cosplay and many, many other activities. It is an action-packed one-day-only event, from 10 a.m to 6 p.m. at the Town Toyota Center.

EVENTS

Think you can game? You’ll get a chance to show off your skills against one of the best: Sam “Doc” Castañón. Castañón, a Sony Playstation tester, will be available for “Beat the Pro” challenges at Wen-Con. Castañón has been gaming since Atari 2600 was released. In his own words: “Space Invaders was my game and technically my first shooter. I was the kid that always toted his Turbo Graphics 16 Turbo Express around with him playing Devil’s Crush Pinball because I believed I was going to be the next Digital ‘Tommy.’ I won my first game competition in 1998 having the fastest time in the world for Resident Evil 1 and 2 back to back at my local GameWorks, before games were seriously tracked. …Sony took notice of me and asked me to be part of a groundbreaking experience, the first console-only gamer reality show: “The Tester.” As a response to the fans, the show “Replay with Doc” in the PlayStation Home community theater was born.”

Videogame tournament hosted by Elite Gaming Gear

Yakima-based Elite Gaming Gear will host videogame tournaments for the valley’s most skilled gamers. More details on games and how to register to come. Visit Elite Gaming Gear at elitegaminggear.com.

Cosplay, with contest and prizes

Come dressed to impress. We love to see creative and original cosplay at WEN-CON. We will even have a contest for original costumes with fun prizes. Read the cosplay rules.

Panelists

Many of our major guests, including Steve Blum, Johnny Yong Bosch, Rick Farmiloe and John Alexander, are scheduled to host panels throughout the day. Come find out more about topics ranging from art, to film, to writing and much more. A schedule of panels and topics will be posted here soon.

Tabletop gaming

Try your hand at a quick round of popular card, dice or other tabletop game. We’ll be announcing a host and list of available titles here soon!

Free photos and autographs with scheduled guests

Get signatures and autographs from our biggest names! Get a signature and photo with:

Steve Blum, voice actor in “Naruto,” “Cowboy Bebop,” and hundreds of video games

WHO'S COMING

With literally hundreds of V/O credits to his name, Steve Blum is best known as the voice of Spike Spiegel from “Cowboy Bebop,” Wolverine from several incarnations of X-Men (animated movies, games, TV Series, and more), Orochimaru, Zabuza, and others from “Naruto,” Green Goblin from the “Spectacular Spiderman” series, and many, many more. Additional shows include “Transformers: Prime,” “HULK: Agents of SMASH,” “Ultimate Spider Man,” “Ben 10: Omniverse,” “the Regular Show,” “Tenkai Knights,” and the hit series “Avatar: The Legend of Korra.”In addition to television, his work in video games is prolific. In 2012, Steve was inducted into the Guinness Book of World records as Most Prolific Voice Actor in Video Games – appearing in almost 300 games. That number has only continued to grow. Games he’s been in include: “Bulletstorm,” the second and third “Mass Effect” games, “Diablo 3,” “Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm,” “Call of Duty,” “Arkham Asylum,” “DragonAge,” “Final Fantasy VII,” and a number of Star Wars games.Find out more about the many, many roles Blum’s played at steveblumvoices.com and IMDb.

“Hellboy” fans will recognize John Alexander as leader of the BPRD, Johann Krauss, and the Bethmoora Goblin from “Hellboy II: The Golden Army.”But before he was a goblin, Alexander made an an appearance in “Men in Black” and “Men in Black II” as Mikey, the fugitive alien, and Jarra, Will Smith’s nemesis.Alexander has appeared in films since 1987, starting with “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes” and including “Return to Oz,” “Mighty Joe Young,” “Gorillas in the Mist,” “Planet of the Apes,” “Zathura: A Space Adventure” and many others. He’s appeared in television as well, including the series “Jeeves and Wooster.”From IMDb, “John Alexander has made a career out of playing highly specialized and physical character roles in sophisticated adventure films. A favorite of special effects gurus Rick Baker and the late Stan Winston, he is often found buried under extensive make-up or wrapped in complex animatronic suits.

Johnny Yong Bosch is an American actor, martial artist, voice actor and musician. His first major role was portraying Adam Park, the second Black Power Ranger and later, the Green Zeo Ranger and the first Green Turbo Ranger in the Power Rangers franchise, which led to roles in some martial arts television and feature films. He provides the English voices for a number of anime productions and video games, including “Akira,” “Trigun,” “Bleach,” “Sailor Moon” and “Sailor Moon Crystal” dubs, “Eureka Seven,” and many others.

Rick Farmiloe has been doing animation since the ’80s. In 1981, he was offered a job as an Assistant Animator at Walt Disney and later promoted to Animator. He animated movies including “The Great Mouse Detective” “Oliver & Company.” HIs most iconic animated characters might be Scuttle the seagull in “The Little Mermaid” and Abu the monkey in “Aladdin.” Later Farmiloe left Disney and did work for Dreamworks. He was a Directing Animator on “The Prince of Egypt”and helped create storyboards for Shrek in 2001. A full animation reel of his 25+ years experience is on his website, along with a timeline of the rest of his work

Ryan Wells, Portland OR, is a professional cosplayer and prop builder as well as builder for the Magicwheelchair.org. Wells is known for being a “Creature Cosplayer” and has been featured on such sites such as Stan Winston School for Character Art’s and MuppetsHenson.

“Cosplay was a natural progression for me since there was simply not enough Halloween in my life. I love to learn new skills, trades, make challenges for myself, getting inspiration and ideas from friends (new and old) and making connections through this great community. Known for being a ‘creature cosplayer’ I tend to draw inspiration mainly from film but I’m branching out into other genres."

Devri Walls is a #1 Amazon and international bestselling author. Having released six novels to date, she specializes in all things fantasy and paranormal. Devri is best known for her uncanny ability to build imaginative worlds and intricate storylines while still managing to present them in a delightfully easy to digest voice.

Settled in Meridian, Idaho Devri lives with her husband, two kids and the cutest mutt you’ve ever seen. When not writing she can be found teaching voice lessons, reading, cooking or binge watching whatever show catches her fancy.

Dagan Anderson is a local 15 year old with a penchant for Anime art. Dagan has been drawing since the age of nine years old, and has recently decided to leap into the world of salesmanship. If you’d like to see more amazing Anime artwork by Dagan, be sure to stop by the Dagenchar Art booth at WEN-CON!

Preston Smith is an independent comic creator based in Spokane Washington, having just released his first book in October of 2016 he plans to build a new and exciting universe through collaboration and creativity. He has loved comic books since a young age and has created stories for most of his life and is incredibly excited to share them. More can be found at www.splotchcomics.com, or see his promotional video on YouTube.

Cosplayer Conner Monroe as Crossfire will be joining Smith at WEN-CON 2017. Stop by the Splotch booth to meet both and receive a free gift!

Brian Dorsey is the author of the Gateway science fiction series as well as non-fiction historical works. His Gateway series has been well reviewed and is frequently in the Amazon Top 100 for the Space Marine genre. He has also been nominated for a Manticore Award for best author of a scifi novella, Draxius Redeemed, which is now part of Cold Planet.He has three adult children and lives with his wife, Kira, near Seattle, Wa. When not spending time with his family, Brian enjoys reading and researching US and Native American history, watching good TV shows or films (anything by Joss Whedon), hunting, teaching the occasional history class, or working on his next writing project.His series has been well reviewed and is frequently in the Amazon Top 100 for the Space Marine genre.

Jeremy Colwell was born and lived his first 22 years in Wenatchee, WA. He spent two years at Wenatchee Valley College and then continued to study painting at the University of Washington. He got married, got a ‘real’ job, had a son, and said adios to said job to be a stay-at-home dad. Had another son.

He volunteered a lot in their schools. The kids grew up and he decided to get another job—one he would love. Coloring comics. So now that’s what he does for the likes of DC, Top Cow, IDW, Dark Horse, and others.

Herb Leonhard was born in Munich, Germany, but grew up in the United States. One of his earliest memories was of a series of German children’s books beautifully illustrated by Fritz Baumgarten. This, along with a childhood spent within the pages of comics, inevitably led to a career as an artist and a love of many of the classic illustrators, both traditional and contemporary, including the Pre-Raphaelites; Maxfield Parrish, Alphonse Mucha, N.C. Wyeth, Brian Froud and Roger Dean. Because of this he remains able to observe the natural world around us with a sense of wonder, and sees every subsequent painting and drawing as a new learning experience.

In a career spanning over thirty years as a professional illustrator and graphic designer, Herb has illustrated more than thirty books and has earned numerous awards & international acclaim. His clients have included musician Tori Amos, Pelican Publishing, Omnibus Press, Ashgate Publishing, Raven Publishing, Steiner Korea and D Magazine. Through his own company The Prancing Pony he has published a series of popular fantasy coloring books, storybooks and various related products.

He lives in Prosser, Washington, with his wife, son, two horses, four cats and a plethora of chickens.

Long ago in a galaxy far, far away… well, no, actually quite recently and close by, a retired television technician looked back on one of his favorite movies and decided to recreate some of the interest and excitement of the STAR WARS films by modeling one of their most endearing characters, R2D2.

The result is a 60″ motorized vehicle suitable for public exhibition and display.

This replica of one of film’s most famous cars is scheduled to be on display at WEN-CON 2017 and available for you to snap a selfie with. The Wells Yellowstone Time Machine “Back to the Future” Delorean replica prides itself in sharing the fan experience for young and old. Pictures are not only allowed, but encouraged at no cost. There is a Hoverboard prop they can stand on next to the car for the perfect photo-op and for that up close and personal interaction.